In a video that has gone viral, the Head Constable at the police station can be seen grilling a 16-year-old girl trying to file a complaint of molestation in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur. The head constable seen “interrogating” the girl in the video has been removed.
The Video
The girl’s family accompanied her to the police station to file a complaint.
In the video, shot by her brother, the girl can be seen narrating that she was eve teased by some men and her brother was beaten up for protesting.
Initially, the head constable Tar Babu refused to file an FIR.
Later in the video, he can be heard talking to the girl in objectionable language.
“Why are you wearing a ring? Why are you wearing a ring and this necklace? Itne item kisliye daale ho (Why wear so many ‘items’? You don’t study. So much jewellery, why are you wearing it? What’s the use of these? This just shows what you really are…,” the constable can be heard saying.
He rudely rebuffs the teen’s parents, who are daily wagers, when they try to intervene. “Don’t you see what the girl does? You say you work, don’t you ever come back home?” He said.
An FIR was registered only after the video went viral in Kanpur. Among those who expressed anger over social media was Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
“This is how they behave with a girl who has come to file a molestation report. On one hand, there is no let-up in crimes against women in Uttar Pradesh, and on the other hand, this is the conduct of those who are supposed to protect the law,” she tweeted in Hindi, along with the video.
छेड़खानी की रिपोर्ट लिखवाने गई लड़की के साथ थाने में इस तरह का व्यवहार हो रहा है।
एक तरफ उत्तर प्रदेश में महिलाओं के खिलाफ अपराध कम नहीं हो रहे, दूसरी तरफ कानून के रखवालों का ये बर्ताव।
महिलाओं को न्याय दिलाने की पहली सीढ़ी है उनकी बात सुनना।
Video credits @benarasiyaa pic.twitter.com/J0FdqBR2Tt
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 25, 2019
The Uttar Pradesh police said that the case is being investigated and if required, further action will be taken against the constable.
The Logical Indian Take
The incident surfaced on a day the Supreme Court asked for special courts to try child abuse cases and passed orders on a petition related to child abuse. Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, while hearing the case, said that “some amount of kindness, tact and zeal” must be shown in cases under the POCSO or Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
However, the girl in the video got the exact opposite treatment.
The law and order condition in parts of the country is highly disappointing and outrageous. Common people will only be overwhelmed with helplessness if those who are supposed to help, turn out to be the harassers.
